Foundation Stage

Foundation Stage

The Early Years Foundation Stage includes our Nursery and Reception classes and is the period of education from 3 to 5 years old.

At Al Ain English Speaking School, we understand that the early years of a child’s life are crucial to their development and their perception of school. The Foundation Stage teachers, along with their learning support assistants, aim to make each child’s introduction to school a positive, stimulating and exciting experience.

We understand the importance of seeing each child as an individual and allowing them to grow and develop in different ways and at different rates. We value independence and see each child as an active participant in their learning. We provide them with opportunities to explore and understand the world around them and help extend on their learning.

The Foundation Stage curriculum comprises of six areas of learning

Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)

Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy (PSRN)

Knowledge and Understanding of the World (KUW)

Communication, Language and Literacy (CLL)

Physical development (PD)

Creative development (CD)

In addition, teachers also have to consider how each child learns using the three Characteristics of Effective Learning:

Playing and exploring

Engagement

Active Learning

Motivation

Creative and thinking critically

Thinking

Finding out and exploring

Playing with what they know

Being willing to ‘have a go’

Being involved and concentrating

Keep trying

Enjoying achieving what they set out to do

Having their own ideas

Making links

Choosing ways to do things

The children in Foundation Stage have the opportunity to attend specialist subjects within their school week with specialist teachers for Music, PE and Arabic.

We know that children learn to be strong and independent from a base of a loving and secure relationship with their parents. Parents are every child’s first teacher and to ensure that they get the best from school, it is important to have parents’ support and participation in their child’s learning. We use our weekly ‘Parents and Teachers Home Support’ (PATHS) letters as a way to keep you up to date with our focuses in class and provide you with ideas to support your child’s learning at home.